


Nemesis

by radioactivesaltghoul



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Crack, Creepy Kylo Ren, Eventual Smut, F/M, Huddling For Warmth, I totally used that Hark! A Vagrant comic for inspiration, Inappropriate Use of the Force, M/M, MechanicStormPilot, Mentions of Pregnancy, Multi, Mutual Pining, Reylo - Freeform, equally creepy Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-09 04:45:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13473975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivesaltghoul/pseuds/radioactivesaltghoul
Summary: Kylo and Rey do normal things that nemeses do, don't they? They think so.Rose, Finn, and Poe also have some thoughts about it.





	1. You and I could make a bad vengeance

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the ["Nemesis" comics from Hark! A Vagrant](http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=327). If you haven't heard of Kate Beaton, definitely check out her stuff.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Creepy Kylo Ren is creepy.

Kylo Ren was new to this whole nemesis thing. He’d never met someone who was his equal with the Force until he met the girl from Jakku. Sure, he’d spent plenty of time around strong people and Force-users, but none of them could even come close to his skill level. Frankly, it was starting to get boring, so he supposed he should have been grateful to Rey for being such a worthy opponent. It felt _so good_ to finally be able to just let loose and fight someone who was actually at his level. (Well, at his level when he was grading on the curve of “he had been training for this his whole life and she hadn’t picked up a lightsaber until just now.”) It was savage. He needed savage in his life. 

Of course, there was that whole thing where they _almost_ decided to join forces (no pun intended), but then they both quickly came to their senses and realized how stupid it would be to work together when they could just be nemeses instead. A nemesis was much better than a friend. Or whatever they almost had been. What was the word for that deep emotional connection people who were connected by a Force bond shared, anyway?

“Supreme Leader, sir,” one of his commanders said to him, interrupting his thoughts. What was her name? Sevanar? Who cared. Nothing mattered. Nothing except his nemesis, the beautiful--wait, beautiful? What?

She wasn’t beautiful. She came from nothing. Just some sand rat from Jakku who _happened_ to get lucky with the Force. She was nobody. Well, not to him, but that was _only_ because she was his nemesis.

“What is it?” Kylo asked, not bothering to turn to look at whoever had spoken. He was inspecting the new control room. There had been such a scramble to get set up with a new headquarters after that awkward showdown with the Resistance on Crait. He hadn’t taken up seat in Snoke’s throne room; they’d had to abandon the _Supremacy_ after his mom’s girlfriend flew their last good ship into it. Kylo may have hated his mother, and he may have hated the Resistance and everything it stood for, but a move like that took some serious balls. Respect. He couldn’t even be mad that the First Order had lost the ship.

But even if they had been able to salvage the _Supremacy,_ there was no way in hell he’d take on Snoke’s seat. Snoke was creepy as hell. Kylo was, too, just in a completely different way. It was a requirement in the ‘Supreme Leader of the First Order’ job description to be creepy as hell. And part of Kylo’s ‘creepy as hell’ included being as far from Snoke’s leadership style as possible. No Praetorian guard or throne room for him.

“You dropped something, sir.” Kylo finally looked down to see where the commander was pointing. There, on the ground, was the holo he kept of Rey’s face. It must have fallen out of his pocket.

“Ah, yes,” he said, swooping down to pick it up. 

“If I may be so bold as to ask, sir,” the Sevanar timidly. Kylo debated choking her just for that annoying phrase alone. “Whose picture is that?”

Kylo looked down at the picture of Rey. He had taken it from some security footage he’d found. There had been a lot of it; he’d carefully gone through and only selected the best shot of her face from it. He wouldn’t insult her by taking a photo that was any less than the most flattering one possible. One of the ones where she was in handcuffs did the trick. Her hair had looked so nice that day, as much as it pained him to admit to liking _anything_ about her.

“This is my nemesis,” he said, tucking the photo back in his jacket. “I carry a picture of her to always fill me with vengeance.”

“That makes sense,” said the commander, nodding. Kylo looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “Vengeance is important,” she added quickly. “And your nemesis is quite--”

“Don’t say whatever it is that you’re about to say,” Kylo growled as he threw out a hand to Force choke Sevanar. If she was about to insult Rey, he didn’t want to hear it. Only he was allowed to insult Rey. And if she was about to compliment Rey, well...he couldn’t have one of his commanders giving compliments to his nemesis, could he?

“I apologize, sir,” the commander choked out. Kylo let her hand a minute longer, then he let go. No sense in letting a good commander go to waste. They went through commanders pretty quickly in the First Order, what with Kylo’s and Hux’s ravenous killing appetites and the whole “war with the damn Resistance that won’t just give up” thing.

“I need to be reminded of my thirst for vengeance,” he said as the commander coughed, trying to work air back into her lungs. “I even sleep with this picture on the other pillow by my face, just in case I wake up in the middle of the night and forget that I have a nemesis.”

“You are very wise to do so, Supreme Leader,” the commander said as soon as she stopped coughing.

“Of course I am,” Kylo said. “I’m the Supreme Leader.”

“Everyone should have a nemesis to fuel them with vengeance,” Sevanar said.

Kylo looked at her suspiciously. Was she just trying to suck up to him, or did she actually mean it? “She’s _my_ nemesis,” he said, reaching into his pocket to grip the holo of Rey. “Find your own.”

“Of--of course, Supreme Leader,” Sevanar said. “I wouldn’t dream of getting in the middle of you and your war with your nemesis.”

He let his grip on the holo loosen. “Good,” he growled. “I think we’re done here, commander.” He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. He needed to go train. He kept a private training room set up with droids that had holos of Rey’s face taped to them. Every time he started to think too much about her, his feelings got all weird. He wasn’t sure if it had something to do with that Force bond they had, but he’d found that the easiest way to deal with it was to go beat the shit out of some droids wearing her face. Deep down, he knew that Snoke wasn’t responsible for whatever mistake the Force made in bonding him to Rey, but he wasn’t ready to admit that it still existed.

  
Buuuuut, just in case it _did_ still exist, he had to stay sharp. Keep in shape. He had to be prepared in case she happened to pop up, and he knew that his 8-pack would one day be an effective secret weapon against her.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Realtalk Leia and Holdo were 500% dating in TLJ.](https://www.autostraddle.com/space-gal-pals-amilyn-holdo-and-leia-organa-the-last-jedi-407135/)


	2. Nemesis mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is just as creepy as Kylo.

 The First Order had gotten lucky and caught on to the Resistance’s flight plans thanks to a tip from one of their arms sellers. Kylo had made sure to personally go down to the planet where it was rumored that the Resistance was hiding out on, because it just wouldn’t do for the Supreme Leader to not fight his own battles. And besides, he had to know if Rey would show. What would she think if he wasn’t there to personally fight her?

He wanted--no, _needed_ a nemesis showdown. They were quite overdue for one. Kylo was starting to feel rather pathetic about the whole nemesis thing. It wasn’t cool to obsess over a nemesis if they decided to stop being your nemesis. It definitely wasn’t that he missed Rey, though. He was just primed for a good showdown. That’s all.

He landed, fully aware of the effect that his ship had on the fighters both with the Resistance and with the First Order. He loved that his underlings were scared shitless by him. They should be. He was fucking awesome, and they needed to be constantly reminded of that through their fear.

The only person who wasn’t afraid of him, actually, was Rey. Thinking about seeing her made his heart flutter. Oh yeah, they were _way_ overdue for another duel. He pulled the holo of her face out of her pocket and stared longingly at it. How long had it been since they’d last locked eyes on Crait? Too long, in his opinion. He didn’t want to go poking around the Force bond that may or may not have been destroyed when Snoke died; he couldn’t stand the idea of being locked in such an intimate position without being able to have an epic lightsaber battle.

He jumped as something on the dashboard beeped. It was the warning signal that he was entering the planet’s atmosphere. He sighed and shoved the holo back in his pocket and tried something he didn’t usually like doing: he reached out with the Force to see if he could sense her.

Man, he was _really_ going to be pissed if he’d come all that way and she didn’t have the decency to show up.

But then, there was something. Even though he couldn’t physically see it, he knew that blindingly bright signature was hers. Something seemed a little different, though. It was definitely her, but it seemed a little...grayer than it had before. Was it possible that she was turning over to his side?

_No, she can’t be. Then who will my nemesis be?_  

The ship landed smack in the middle of a forest. Perfect. He loved chasing people through forests. It was so much fun to jump out from behind trees and scare them. He made sure that his lightsaber was clipped to his belt, and he grabbed his other bag. He couldn’t forget it. Not today, when it carried something so important.

He was so desperate to start the showdown that he nearly sprinted out of the ship. She was nearby. He hoped that it was because she was equally as ready to start dueling. But no, he forced himself to wait. Gotta play it cool. Nobody likes a Supreme Leader who’s running off his ship in search of some girl, even if she _is_ his nemesis.

He didn’t have to go far before he was wandering around the woods alone. Turns out most people--stormtroopers and Resistance fighters alike--hated getting lost in the creepy forest. Kylo didn’t blame them. There was something about this forest. It was gloomy, dark, and foggy, even though the twin suns had been bright overhead when he landed.

In other words, it was the perfect place to chase Rey.

He reached a hand into his pocket to clutch the holo, just as an extra reminder of what he was doing there. Nemesis things. They were there to do nemesis things. That’s all.

“I know you’re here, Rey,” he said, stopping in the middle of the closest thing resembling a clearing he could find. “You can’t hide. Not from me.”

“Who says I’m hiding?” He couldn’t tell where her voice was coming from, and he forced himself to resist the urge to turn and look. Was it normal to be so desperate to see one’s nemesis’s face after all the time spent staring at a holo?

“Well clearly you aren’t out standing here in front of me,” he said. He gripped the bag he was carrying tightly. Wait, what if it was too much? Would she make something weird out of it? It was totally normal to give your nemesis things, right?

He suddenly felt a blaster pointed right between his shoulder blades. He’d forgotten how adorably small she was. She probably couldn’t reach his head easily. “Who says I’m standing in front of you?” he heard her say, her voice barely louder than a whisper. His heart started pounding. They were together, at last, under perfect showdown conditions.

“Put the blaster down,” he said. “I’ve got something better for you.”

Predictably, she did exactly the opposite of what he wanted, and she shoved the blaster deeper into his back. He hoped it left a bruise. “I don’t want anything from you,” she said. “Other than a good fight.”

“That’s perfect, then,” he said, holding up the bag. It was kind of an awkward angle because of where she was positioned behind him, which was not how he had imagined this going down in his head. “I brought something that will give us both what we want: a good duel.”

“What’s in the bag?” she said.

“Do you trust me?” It was a stupid question, but he had to ask.

“What do you think, _Kylo Ren_?” she hissed. It hurt more than he expected it to to hear her go back to his chosen name instead of his birth name.

“Just take it,” he said. “I promise it’s not a bomb or a trap. I just want a proper duel, like proper nemeses.”

He felt Rey relax a bit. She shifted as she reached for the bag, not daring to take the blaster away from him. He didn’t blame her. He deserved that after the disaster that was Crait.

“What the kriff?” she asked as she opened the bag and stared into it. “Is this what I think it is?”

“It’s an old lightsaber I found when cleaning last week,” he said, trying to sound as casual as possible. Actually, he’d found it ages ago and was waiting for the perfect time to give it to her. Somehow it had been hiding among his things. (Secretly, he wondered if the Force had been hiding it somewhere in a boundless void, waiting for the perfect moment to give it back to him.) He hadn’t used it since before the night he gave in to the pull of the dark side, and the crystal was still a clear blue. “I figured yours was broken, and we can’t have a proper lightsaber duel if only one of us has one.”

“I--what the fuck, Kylo?” she asked, finally dropping the blaster. He turned around, wanting to see her face. “You can’t give me a weapon. You’re my nemesis. Don’t you want to, like, arrest me or something?”

“Arrest you? Without a fair fight? Come on, Rey,” he said, stepping closer. He’d heard somewhere that it made you more menacing if you got all up in someone’s personal space. That was definitely his motivation for it. He definitely wasn’t desperate to touch her again. “What would be the point in that?” He realized that he was starting to feel a weird sensation of nerves running through his stomach. He wondered if she’d learned some new Force trick to make him feel that way.

Neither of them said anything for a moment as they stared at each other. She’d changed her hair. He liked it. (Not that he’d ever tell her that.) It was so good to see her again. He found himself about to reach out to touch her face (which was super weird; why did he want to do that?) and forced himself to stop. She caught the slight movement, and it broke the spell. She pulled away and turned on the lightsaber. It lit up a bright blue color. Kylo felt something in his shriveled little black heart twinge when he saw it.

“It’s perfect,” she said, admiring the way the blade felt in her hand. Suddenly, she turned to face him, dropping into a fighting stance. “Thank you, Kylo. Now that we’re both properly equipped, how about that showdown?” The words were casual, but she threw such ferocity behind them that he was a little taken aback.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said, taking his own saber out.

Like all of their previous duels, they were evenly matched, which made it perfect, in Kylo’s opinion. He knew that they could (and would) both fight until they were completely exhausted, but it would take a long, long, _long_ time before they got to that point. He felt oddly energized as he was around her. He made a mental note to try to subtly organize more showdowns. It did wonders for his stress levels.

And then he noticed something as he leaned in with what could have been a solid blow to her neck. _Is that…?_ he thought. His sudden pause made her slip, and she dropped her saber as she tried to maintain her balance.

“What the hell, Kylo?” she asked. “You are even creepier than I remembered.”

“Your neck,” he said, unable to keep a delighted grin off his face.

“What about my--oh,” she said. Even through the gloom of the forest, he could tell that she was blushing. “I need to remember that you’re my nemesis,” she said defensively. “This is a good way of reminding me. By wearing a holo of your face on a necklace.”

“Oh, I’m so glad I’m not the only one,” he said, maintaining his creepy grin.

“It’s the only way to keep myself filled with vengeance,” she said. “After you broke my h--my lightsaber.”

“You’re the perfect nemesis,” he said.

Just then, in what was the worst timing by the incompetent people Hux had the nerve to call stormtroopers rushed in, yelling and shooting. Rey cursed, scrabbling to pick up her lightsaber and the blaster she’d dropped earlier. “I’m outta here,” she yelled. “We’ll have to finish this fight another time, nemesis.”

“Oh, we will,” Kylo said, smiling at her. “Nemesis mine.”

 

 


	3. Lay down your loyalties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo is still creepy, and no one else is allowed to fight Rey.

Another day, another battle. Business as usual in the First Order-Resistance war. They’d somehow been ambushed by the Resistance while on a stop on Farstine for a meeting with an arms dealer. Kylo had no idea how they’d managed to figure out that the First Order was going to be meeting there. Sure, he’d been talking a lot about his trip to Farstine and discussing the logistics of it non-stop, so sure, there was _potential_ , if he and Rey were _really_ still linked, that she could have picked up on it. He definitely hadn’t been trying to drop hints in hopes that she’d show up for another nemesis showdown. Of course not. That would be creepy.

It was probably his fault for not taking a bigger fleet, really. But why did he need to display such a show of might when all he was doing was meeting with a lousy arms dealer? He had himself (and he was terrifying enough on his own), and Hux, and Phasma (who had managed to make it out of the explosion on the _Supremacy_ alive because she was a badass) along with a handful of other commanders and generals.

As soon as the laser blasts started flying, Kylo had his lightsaber out and was reaching out with the Force to find Rey. She had to be there, right? She wouldn’t dare leave the Resistance to fight without her, would she? It had been a whole month since their last encounter, though. Maybe she had changed her mind about the whole thing and had abandoned everything to go live out in solitary peace like a boring, old-school Jedi.

But no, that couldn’t be right. If she suddenly decided to abandon everything, wouldn’t she tell him? She owed it to him as a nemesis.

He had gotten better at seeking her out with the Force, after all of the time he’d spent trying (and failing) to figure out how to get her alone for some serious one-on-one nemesis stuff. _She’s here,_ he thought delightedly as he found her Force signature. He wasn’t sure exactly where, but he took off in the direction that felt vaguely right. He loved a good chase, just like in the woods on their last encounter.

He didn’t have to go very far to find her this time, though. She was already locked in a fight with someone. The arms dealers weren’t happy about the fighting, and most of them had either scurried off on escape pods, or they were forcing their hired muscle to leap into the fray. It made all of the fighting even more chaotic, which made it even more exciting, in Kylo’s opinion.

But wait. “How _dare_ she fight someone else who isn’t me?” he hissed. He felt his eyes widen as he realized what he’d just said aloud. He prayed that he hadn’t said it loud enough for anyone to hear over the noise of battle.

“Sir?” said the commander standing next to him. What was her name again? Oh, yes, Sevanar. The one who thought that carrying around a holo of his nemesis was a good idea. She was good at her job. Loyal. Ready to fight by his side. The First Order needed plenty of commanders like her.

“There she is,” he said more loudly, pointing his lightsaber in the direction of Rey’s battle. “There’s my nemesis.”

“She looks quite threatening, sir,” Sevanar said, priming her blaster for a shot. “Don’t worry, Supreme Leader. If she gets too close, I can take her down myself.”

“Would you now,” Kylo said, turning away from Rey to glare at Sevanar.

“Or I have a shot now, if she gets more in the clear,” Sevanar said, oblivious to Kylo’s seething. She aimed her blaster, and then--

There was a clatter as the blaster fell to the floor. Kylo didn’t even register what he had done until Sevanar’s head rolled to his feet, knocking against his boot. _Gross._ “That’s what happens when you try to interrupt _my_ rivalry with _my_ nemesis,” he growled as he started to move towards Rey’s fight. There were now three people trying to fight her, and Kylo was delighted to see how well she was holding up against them. She didn’t even look tired. Which was perfect, because he planned on going all night long with this duel.

He rushed in, beheading the arms dealers’ guards without a second thought.

“Really, Kylo?” Rey asked, annoyed. “I was doing just fine fighting by myself.” Even pissed off, she looked good fighting. He felt that strange, nervy sensation in his stomach again that she had given him the last time they’d met. If this was some Force trick she had picked up, it wasn’t a very good one. It didn’t hurt at all. It actually felt pretty good.

“No one is allowed to fight you but me,” he said, holding up his saber in a defensive position.

Rey nearly dropped her lightsaber in surprise. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked.

“Why are you so surprised?” he said. “Don’t you feel the same way about me?”

She opened her mouth, but she didn’t say anything. He could sense a lot of emotions spinning through her, but he couldn’t tell what any of those emotions were. He had never been very good with emotions, anyway.

And then suddenly, she snapped. “You,” she shouted as she swung her saber at his head, “Are. So. Creepy!” She punctuated the sentence with blows of her lightsaber, all of which Kylo blocked effortlessly.

“Creepy?” Kylo shouted back as he took a swing of his own. “How is that creepy? We’re nemeses. These are totally normal nemesis things.”

“How would you know?” she countered, blocking three quick hits in a row. “Have you ever had a nemesis before?”

“Well, no,” he said, narrowly missing a hit to his upper arm. “I’m just going on pure instinct, here. Why,” he asked, suddenly panicked. “Have you?” Maybe she was more experienced than he was about being a nemesis. What if she was? What if she had another nemesis? What if he wasn’t the only one? The thought made him feel as though he’d been dunked in an ice-cold bath on Hoth.

“Not really,” she said, jumping up on a small platform. They were moving their fight away from the others. It was a much more private fight now. Good. And when she was standing on a platform like this, she was high up enough to look him straight on in the face. And coincidentally, they were now standing close enough to each other that he could see a thin scab running along her cheek.

“Who hurt you?” he asked.

“Excuse me?”

“That scab on your face,” he said as he switched off his lightsaber. No use holding it when they were standing this close. He could just push her over if he wanted to hurt her. Which he totally did, obviously.

“What?” She switched off her own lightsaber.

“Right here,” he said, reaching out to run his fingers along it. It definitely wouldn’t leave a scar--not like the glorious one she had left on him--but someone _else_ had given it to her.

“Why do you care?” she asked. “Up until three seconds ago, you were trying to cut off my head."

“I would never cut off your head,” he said, jerking his hand back.

“So let me get this straight,” she said, raising an eyebrow. The sounds of the battle around them had faded, like they were in their own little world. “You want to fight me, but you don’t want to cut off my head. You want to hurt me, but you’re bothered by the idea that someone else injured me. And you killed three men just so that you could fight me yourself?” 

Kylo thought about it. “Yeah, that seems right,” he said.

“You are _so creepy,_ ” Rey groaned. “I don’t even know why I like--fighting you,” she said. It sounded like she was about to say something else, and he couldn’t figure out what else she could have meant.

Suddenly, his comm beeped, making him jump. “Supreme Leader,” Hux said. “Ren. we need to retreat. We got what we came here for. Let the rebel scum deal with the rest of these low-lifes.”

Without breaking eye contact with Rey, he grabbed the comm to respond. “Retreat approved. Gather the troops. Consider this mission a success.” She just watched him with a confused expression on her face. “To be continued later, nemesis,” he said to her before turning on his heel and stalking away.

She watched him retreat in silence. He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or not that she hadn’t decided to chase after him. As he was in his ship, lifting off from the surface of Farstine, he could still sense all of the emotions spinning through her, but he wasn’t any closer to figuring out what they were. _Wait,_ he thought suddenly. _Maybe these_ are _my emotions, after all._ Okay, that _had_ to be some new Force trick of hers. There was _no way_ his emotions would be swirling this much on their own.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I hope that Phasma makes it out of the wreckage for ep IX.
> 
> If you're wondering how Rey feels about all of this, don't worry. Her POV is coming soon :)


	4. Don't play me like this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, Finn, and Rose go on a trip.

“We’ve got something!” Poe shouted as he ran into the hangar where Finn was helping Rey and Rose repair a ship. This wasn’t the first time he had done this. Nor was it even the second. After the fifth time, Rey and Rose had stopped jumping when Poe did it. Rey thought it was adorable how excited he always got when the Resistance gathered new intel or found a new lead. It was a good quality in a leader, except for the part where it made him act like a hurt akk puppy whenever the information turned out to be bad.

This, however, was not one of those times. “What is it?” asked Rose, not bothering to look up from where she was trying to screw a panel back in place.

“I know where the First Order is heading next,” Poe said, grinning.

Rey looked up, her heart suddenly pounding. “Which part of the First Order?” she asked, trying to sound as cool as possible. Judging by the way she saw Rose and Finn exchange glances out of the corner of her eye, it hadn’t worked.

“Their leadership,” Poe said. “They’re going to be meeting with some potential donors on Llanic.”

“That’s a strange choice,” said Rose. “Isn’t that place sorta…”

“Sketchy?” said Poe. “Yes. I agree, strange choice, but who cares? We have this information. Maybe we can use it to get the drop on them.”

“I volunteer,” Rey said quickly.

Poe, Finn, and Rose all turned to give Rey a look. It was the same look they’d given her after the last two battles against the First Order. She had tried to explain that Kylo Ren had fixated on her as his nemesis, and _yes_ , of course, she hated him too, which is why she always needed to seek him out and fight him whenever they were both in the same place, but her friends always seemed to say, “Uh-huh, sure, whatever you say, Rey,” with identical skeptical expressions. No matter how many times she’d asked, they hadn’t explained to her what they’d meant by it. 

“You volunteer for what?” asked Finn.

“I volunteer to go.”

Finn and Poe exchanged glances. “Who said anything about going anywhere?” Finn asked.

“Well, if we have this intel, we have to use it, obviously,” said Rey. “And how else are we going to use it but by ambushing them?” 

Poe sighed. “Listen, Rey, I’m all for rushing in and blowing things up, believe me--”

“We do,” Rose muttered under her breath.

“--but I actually think that this would be better for intel-gathering. We need to figure out what they’re up to. We got lucky with the ambush on Farstine, but if we want to actually hurt them, we need to learn more about what their plans are.”

Rey sighed. That did make a lot of sense, actually. And even though she was itching to shove her fist in Kylo’s face, she _did_ have to reign her impulses in. She refused to stoop to his level by throwing her impulse control out the window. Besides, the _last_ time she’d gave in to an impulse concerning Kylo Ren, it had ended with her in handcuffs being tortured by Snoke.

(Okay, fair enough, she _had_ had a nice fight with Kylo--who was _definitely_ Kylo again, not Ben--but then he ruined it by saying that she was nobody and that her friends should die.)

“That’s--that’s okay,” she said. “Intel-gathering is good. I can do that. I can go and not fight anyone.”

Poe and Finn exchanged glances. “Are you sure about this?” Poe said. “I don’t want to send you out there if there’s going to be a fight.”

“I don’t want to start a fight,” Rey protested. “I promise.” If she said it often enough, maybe she’d start to believe it.

“You might not want to start a fight, but if Kylo Ren spots you, he’s going to tear the planet down looking for you,” said Poe.

“Dude is mad creepy,” agreed Finn.

“Why is he so obsessed with you, anyway?” asked Rose, crawling out from the control panel she’d been fixing.

“It’s a nemesis thing,” said Rey. “Jedi stuff. You wouldn’t understand.”

Rose snorted. “Sure it is,” she said. Rey had the distinct impression that Rose meant something she wasn’t saying, but Rey wasn’t sure how to ask what she meant.

Two days later, Rey, Rose, and Finn were landing just outside the main city on Llanic. They were in an old freighter that had been carefully designed to look as nondescript as possible. Rey would have preferred to take the Falcon--there was no way _that_ ship would escape Kylo’s attention--but everyone else had been so insistent about staying on mission.

“This is for intel-gathering _only_ ,” Poe said over the commlink. “Rey, I know you want to fight Kylo Ren--”

“He’s my nemesis,” she said. “I have to fight him if I see him. That’s the rule.” 

Poe sighed. “For once, _please_ ignore him if he shows up. Just focus on keeping an eye on where they go and who they meet with. That’s all. If nothing happens, wait around for three days max, then get the hell back here.” Rey suspected he specifically wasn’t saying “I miss you” to them because she was there. Dummy. As if she didn’t know he, Rose, and Finn were all sleeping together. You couldn’t hide that sort of chemistry from a (half-trained) Jedi.

So they sat. And waited. There were three places in the city that the First Order was likely to go: near the huge market in the middle of town, the megacenter in the middle of the business district, and the massive church in the eastern part of the city. Rey thought it was weird that a business deal would go down in a place of worship, but Poe had told her that it was the only place that certain warring parties from other systems would come together to discuss business in peace.

“Anything yet?” Finn’s voice came from the microcomm that Rey had attached to her ear. “Nothing in the business district.”

“Nothing here,” said Rose, who was camped out at the market.

“Not here, either,” said Rey, staring at the giant church ahead of her.. She was starting to worry. Their intel couldn’t be wrong, could it? They didn’t come all this way for nothing.

_Relax,_ she told herself. _It’s only day one. Maybe they’re just running late._

But the second day went by, and there was no peep of them. Nothing from anyone that Rey encountered that even suggested that the First Order _might_ have been on their way.

“Where are they?” she said with a groan to Finn and Rose as they ate dinner back on the ship on the third day. “They’re supposed to be here by now. We know! We intercepted their plans. We’ve been waiting for days!” She didn’t want to leave. Not yet. Not until she was _sure_ that Kylo wasn’t coming to Llanic.

“It’s okay,” said Rose, reaching out to rub Rey’s shoulder. “They probably would have shown up by now if they knew that we had intercepted that message.”

“Maybe they’re just busy,” said Finn happily. He wasn’t very good at disguising his relief that they wouldn’t have to actually spy on the First Order.

“Ugh,” said Rey, pushing her bowl of food away. “Just leave me alone to die.” She collapsed over the table, suddenly asleep. 

Rose and Finn exchanged worried glances. “This is what happens when she stays awake for three days straight trying to catch a glimpse of Kylo Ren,” Rose said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there a name for the Poe/Finn/Rose ship? Does anyone besides me even ship it? (Why should Finn only be with one when he could be with both?)
> 
> As far as plans for this fic: I plan on finishing out the comics, and I've got one more chapter planned after. Please let me know if you have any requests or suggestions, because I'm very happy to continue with these two!


	5. No one else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is worried about Rey, and Kylo can't throw a punch to save his life.

It had been a month since their intel about Llanic turned out to be false, and Rey was driving everyone crazy. She kept talking about how she needed to train, but nobody would train with her anymore. Not after she accidentally Force-dropped a stack of chairs on top of C3PO. So instead she started spending half the day outside, literally running in circles and beating up trees with sticks. And then she spent the other half of her days inside trying to fix equipment with Rose, which was slightly more helpful, except that sometimes she would stop in the middle of a sentence to glare at the wall before running off and hiding for a few minutes. Whenever Rose asked about that, Rey said it was “oh, you know, Jedi stuff.” If being a Jedi meant being batshit crazy, Rose didn’t want any part of it, no matter how badass it looked to use a lightsaber and lift rocks telekinetically.

“I’m worried about her,” Rose confessed to Finn and Poe over dinner one night. “I think she’s losing it, and I think it has to do with Kylo Ren.”

“Maybe he put some sort of Force magic spell on her,” Poe suggested.

“I don’t think the Force works like that,” said Finn. “But if it does, I wouldn’t put it past him. You wouldn’t believe the rumors that flew around about that guy when I was a stormtrooper.”

“Like what?” Rose asked.

“People said that his hair was insured for 10,000 credits, and that he did TIE-fighter commercials on Coruscant. His favorite movie is a documentary about old Death Star footage. One time, he met the queen of Naboo, and she told him he was pretty.”

“Whoa,” said Rose. 

“Those are some pretty crazy rumors,” Poe agreed.

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know how much of that is _actually_ true, but I wouldn’t put it past him to put some sort of crazy dark side Force spell on Rey.”

They were silent for a moment. “So what do we do about it?” Rose finally asked. 

“We need to get a closer look at him,” said Poe. “We need a spy. Someone on the inside. Preferably, someone to place secret cameras around the First Order headquarters so that we can see exactly what he gets up to.”

“I bet we can hack the security footage,” said Rose.

“The last time we tried to hack into a First Order ship, it didn’t go very well,” said Finn.

Rose sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. That was probably a bad idea.”

The three of them picked at their food in silence, lost in their thoughts. Even though Rose had initially felt kind of weird about Rey, like she’d accidentally intruded on something between Rey and Finn, she had grown to like Rey a lot. It turned out that she had nothing to worry about there; whatever Rey and Finn had was completely platonic, to Rose’s--and Poe’s--complete relief. So Rose couldn’t just sit by and watch her friend suffer like this. Just as she was about to open her mouth to express this sentiment, Major Taslin ran into the breakroom, causing Poe, Rose, and Finn to jump.

“You’ve got to see this,” he said. “Come quick!” Rose exchanged glances with Finn, but Poe was already on his feet, running after Taslin.

The Resistance didn’t have access to the most up-to-date equipment, after having lost so much on Crait. But they did still have access to the Galaxy-Wide-Holonet, which meant that they were still able to see the news stories making headlines from other parts of the galaxy. Even though they couldn’t do anything about most of it, it still helped them to be aware of potential allies arising from other happenings across the galaxy. But even with their limited equipment, they were still able to see the scene unfolding across the screen in front of them. 

“This is being streamed live?” asked Connix. 

Taslin nodded. “One of the stormtroopers must have sneaked a holocam on board,” he said.

“He’s sacrificing his life for _this?_ ” Finn said, knowing what the consequence for public streaming any sort of footage from a First Order ship would be.

On screen was a fistfight between Kylo Ren and the red-headed general who had no soul. General Hugs, Poe had called him, but Rose doubted that was his actual name. It should have been a terrifying sight, but it was actually the lamest fistfight Rose had ever seen. She doubted that Hugs had been in a physical fight in his life, and Kylo Ren was probably so used to fighting with this lightsaber that he didn’t need to know how to fight with his fists. If they hadn’t been two such terrifying figures, Rose would have been rolling on the ground with laughter. “This is…” she said, unable to find the words.

“Fucking hilarious?” finished Poe, who was clearly trying to hold back giggles.

“How can you think that?” said Finn. “Do you have any idea how terrifying they are?”

“I was kidnapped and interrogated by them so, yes, I do,” said Poe, “which is why this is hilarious.” He couldn’t contain his laughter anymore as they watched Hugs try to take Kylo down by pulling on his cape, Kylo swinging punches that somehow completely failed to miss Hugs. 

Rose had to admit that Poe was right. As terrifying as they were, the image of Kylo Ren failing to beat Hugs up was hilarious.

“Where’s Rey?” Poe asked between giggles. “She has to see this.”

“Do you think that’s wise?” Rose murmured to Finn. “You know that she’s a bit, uh, _sensitive_ when it comes to--”

“NO!” Rey shouted as she walked into the control room and saw the spectacle unfolding on the holoscreen. Every glass in the room shattered for effect. Rose didn’t know if it was intentional or not. “No!” Rey shouted again as she turned and ran.

“We should go after her,” Finn said, taking Rose’s hand and running after Rey.

“Rey?” Finn called down the corridor as they followed Rey. “Rey, are you okay?”

Rey didn’t say anything, but they heard a door slam as they neared her room. “She must have locked herself inside,” said Rose. She knocked on the door. “Rey, what’s wrong?” Rey didn’t answer, but Rose thought she heard Rey’s voice saying something she couldn’t quite decipher.

“What’s wrong with her?” said Poe, rounding the corner into the corridor where Rey’s room was. He was still wiping tears of laughter from the fight out of his eyes. “Man, I hope we recorded that video.”

“I don’t know,” said Finn, ignoring Poe’s comment. “She just won’t come out of her room.” 

“Rey?” Poe asked, knocking on her door. “Come out. Let’s talk about this. I’m sure it isn’t what you think it was.” When Rey didn’t respond, Poe turned to Finn and Rose. “I guess we should just leave her alone for a little while?” he said.

Finn grimaced. “I don’t know,” he said. “Something about that video deeply disturbed her.” 

“It’s probably another nemesis thing,” said Rose. “It can’t be easy to watch your nemesis have the most embarrassing fight ever with someone who isn’t you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! All of your comments and kudos are deeply appreciated, and I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


	6. Grapeshot my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey goes on a trip. Kylo just wants to say hi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really love Rey and Rose as friends, like I want them to sit around and braid each other’s hair and talk about their crushes and eat ice cream straight out of the carton together.

After the overreaction of the century to catching a glimpse of the galaxy’s saddest fight between Kylo Ren and Hux, Rey was told to take some time off.

“We think you need a vacation,” Rose had told her as she helped Rey pack up the Falcon. “You work too hard here. You said something last week about taking a trip to some ancient sacred Jedi place. Why don’t you go there?”

“Ilum,” said Rey. “According to the books I sto-- _borrowed_ from Luke, that’s where Jedi used to go to get kyber crystals for making lightsabers.”

“You already have a lightsaber, don’t you?” said Rose.

“Yes,” Rey said slowly, “but I got it from--I didn’t make it, and I want to make my own. I think that will make me start feeling more like a real Jedi.”

“But you _are_ a real Jedi. You can lift things with your mind, you fight with a lightsaber, and you have weird moments where you look like you’re having Force visions or something.”

“Force visions,” Rey said. “Yes. That is definitely what those are.” _Force visions involving 8-packs._ “But that’s not all there is to being a Jedi. And it’s so difficult to figure out, now that I’m…”

“The last Jedi,” Rose whispered. Those words felt like they _meant_ something. Maybe there was a poem somewhere with that name? Rey didn’t know shit about poetry, but she liked to listen to Poe talk about it. (Who would have thought that he and Finn were suckers for sappy romantic poetry?)

Rey sighed. “Yeah,” she said. She didn’t add anything as she stuck the last few things in her bag. It wasn’t going to be a long trip, she hoped, but it wasn’t like she’d had many things to begin with. “Thank you,” she said suddenly.

Rose blinked. “For what?”

“For being such a good friend, even though I’ve been a little, you know…” Rey made a vague hand gesture that was supposed to mean ‘batshit crazy, but please don’t actually use those words because they’re mean’ “...lately.”

Rose smiled at her. “Oh, Rey,” she said, pulling her in for a hug. “I know that having a nemesis has been so difficult for you. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be connected to the Supreme Leader of the First Order.”

Rey sighed again as she returned Rose’s hug. “It is strange,” she said, trying not to think about the fact that apparently, Kylo had a _new_ nemesis to fight now. “And I hope that I find answers on Ilum.”

As much as she appreciated that Kylo had given her a lightsaber after he had broken hers, Rey still felt saying “what the fuck, Kylo?” every time she thought about the fact that her nemesis had brought her a weapon that could be used to destroy him. Rey didn’t have much experience with having a nemesis, but she wasn’t sure if it was normal to feel nervous sparks in her stomach every time she thought about the lightsaber given to her by her nemesis. Or rather, former nemesis, based on what she’d seen on the holovid. She was hoping that by going through the traditional process of finding her own kyber crystal and creating a blade that way, it would feel a little more normal to fight against Kylo, if he did still want to fight with her now that she was no longer his nemesis.

Besides, she was getting put on administrative leave. She had to find _something_ worthwhile to do with her time. And then she would come back and be primed and ready for another fight. She was going to beat Kylo Ren once and for all and then maybe she could _finally_ stop thinking about him and his stupid 8-pack and his stupid hair and his stupid lips and his stupid _everything._

With everything packed and ready to go, Rey just had to say a few good-byes and make sure everyone knew where to meet back up again. The Resistance was planning to stick around on the base for a while, but there was always the risk of the First Order showing up and forcing them to abandon the base again. Poe handed Rey another binary beacon and gave her a quick hug before she left. “When you come back,” he said to her, “I want you to come back ready to be back in action.”

She force herself to grin and say “Yeah, me too.” She was ready for action _now._ She hated the implication that she needed time to rest and recuperate when she hadn’t done anything to deserve that in the first place. 

It was a little lonely traveling in the Falcon by herself after spending months surrounded by her friends--her family, more like--living in tight quarters as they hopped from base to base, trying to gather more supplies, allies, and transports. The Resistance still hadn’t recovered from the events leading up to and including the battle on Crait, and they likely never fully would, but they were finally starting to heal and gain a foothold with supporters again. No matter what was going on with Rey, she would never do anything to jeopardize that.

It was long flight to Ilum from where the Resistance had been hiding, which left Rey with plenty of time to meditate. Well, she was supposed to be meditating, anyway. There was always a 50% chance that she’d stumble upon Kylo across the Force bond if he happened to be meditating at the same time that she was. Something about having their barriers down at the same time caused a connection to open. It definitely had _nothing_ to do with the fact that half of Rey’s meditation sessions ended in long trains of thought around how to beat Kylo Ren one and for all so that he would get out of her head.

 

* * *

 

Kylo Ren wanted to go on a joyride.

Well, okay, so maybe he just wanted to drive around _just in case_ a certain Force-sensitive nemesis of his _happened_ to be heading for Ilum like he thought she would based on something he’d overheard across the Force bond. But he definitely wasn’t _stalking_ her or anything. He just needed to make sure she wasn’t going to, like, try to board a massive First Order command ship and hunt him down all on her own. No matter how tight of control he had, he didn’t trust half of his commanding officers not to kill Rey on sight. If anyone was going to kill her, it was going to be _him._ (But he would never do that, because she was too good of a nemesis to let go.)

It would look suspicious if he just randomly disappeared on his own, so he took a small ship staffed by another pilot to act as a witness. And the ship may have been small, but it still had enough firepower to take out what was probably left of the Resistance, if he happened to come across any of their ships.

Again, not that he was seeking anyone out. He was just going on a joyride.

“Are you sure about this, sir?” the pilot asked him. What was her name again? Sevanar? No, Sevanar was the commander he killed because she almost killed his nemesis. Kylo peeked down to read the pilot’s nametag as inconspicuously as he could manage. _Captain Sargas._ Right, okay. Sargas. Kylo was trying to be better at remembering his employees’ names. It made it less likely for him to kill them if he knew their names, and the First Order was running through smart, talented commanders far too quickly these days.

“Positive,” he said. “Head toward Ilum.” 

“Why are we bothering with that ice rock?” Sargas asked as she entered the coordinates.

“Are you questioning the decisions of your Supreme Leader?” Kylo said in his best ‘badass Supreme Leader’ voice.

“No sir,” Sargas said quickly. “Not at all. Just trying to make conversation.”

“Well stop. I don’t pay you to talk.” Kylo paused. He had to figure out how to phrase this next part correctly. He knew that Hux had been spreading dissent about how “unhinged” he was with his “obsession” over his “nemesis” and how it was “wasting company time and resources.” Hux even used air quotes for emphasis when he didn’t think Kylo was paying attention. So it would probably look bad if he was “wasting company time and resources” to hunt down the Millenium Falcon because it would make him look even more “obsessed with his nemesis.”

“Keep an eye out for any freighter ships you may see,” he finally settled on. Granted, it was probably too vague to be useful, but Kylo didn’t see any way of being more subtle about it.

“Noted, sir,” said Sargas, her eyes locked nervously on the screen in front of her.

“Good,” Kylo said before turning to walk dramatically out of the room. His old cape had been torn after that embarrassing fight with Hux, and he was still breaking in the new one. That fight had been a huge hit to the First Order’s aura of mystery and terror. An entire regiment of stormtroopers had lost their lives over it while he and Hux got to the bottom of whoever decided to film that little fight and post it on the HoloNet. It was the most he and Hux had worked together on anything in a long time. Nothing like humiliating video footage posted on the galaxy-wide HoloNet to bring coworkers together. He prayed that Rey hadn’t seen it. What would she think if she saw him fighting someone else? He didn’t want her to think that he had found a new nemesis.

After a few hours of waiting, Kylo was starting to get bored. Kylo didn’t really do “bored.” When he got bored on the First Order headquarters ship, he just went and either beat up some droids in the training room or beat up some unsuspecting employees who happened to be in the wrong gym at the wrong time. But this ship was small, and the only other employee on board was the pilot, and he didn’t want to beat up his driver. That was just rude.

Just as Kylo was about to start braiding his hair out of sheer boredom, he heard Sargas call him from the control room. Kylo leaped into the air in excitement before remembering that Supreme Leaders didn’t _do_ excitement.

“What is it?” he said, pushing Sargas out of the way so that he could get a better look at the monitor.

“I found a freighter ship,” said Sargas. He pressed a few buttons, and some more information came on screen. “Unbelievable,” he breathed as information scrolled across the screen. “That ship--”

“She’s here!” Kylo shouted, causing Sargas to jump and then cower in her seat. “If that ship is the damned Millenium Falcon, I know who’s on board.” He reached out in the Force to confirm it, just to be sure. It was her, all right. Rey’s bright Force signature was burning from the ship in front of them.

“What should we do, sir?” asked Sargas timidly.

“Sound the cannons,” said Kylo.

“Are we attacking, sir?” Sargas asked. “We’re not prepared to engage in combat on this ship.”

“I just want her to know that I’m here,” Kylo said as he pressed some buttons to aim the blaster cannon vaguely in Rey’s direction, but not close enough to actually hit her.

 

* * *

 

_BOOM._ The sound of a blaster cannon jolted Rey out of her meditative trance. (It hadn’t been a very productive one. She kept getting distracted by something--or someone.) She scrambled up off of the floor and sprinted into the cockpit to see what was going on.

“What the--?” she asked, forgetting that there was no one else around to hear her. “Who else could possibly be all the way out here?”

_BOOM._ The sound of another cannon. They weren’t even trying to hit her. “Wait a minute,” she said to herself. “Who would shoot at me but not actually want to hit me?” Her heart started pounding as she reached out with the Force to see if her suspicions were confirmed.

And there he was, on the ship behind her, his dark (but lighter than he’d admit) Force signature burning like a beacon calling to her. “Kylo,” she breathed, unable to keep a smile from her face. “He hasn’t forgotten about me, after all!” She hadn’t realized how upset she had been about the idea of him abandoning her for another nemesis until now.

Of course, there was still a problem. They were nearing Ilum. She didn’t want him to know that she was heading there, because he’d know exactly what she planned to do there. She didn’t want him to get involved in her quest to build her own lightsaber. How embarrassing would it be to have her nemesis help her make a weapon, especially after he already gave her one? It was starting to feel like he was taking pity on her, and that would just not do. She hated to just leave him hanging, but...she had to do what she had to do. 

She set the Falcon on a course for the surface of Ilum at the spot where according to the Jedi texts was where the kyber crystal cave was, and sat down to try to open a Force bond session. She had spent so much time trying to keep Kylo out that she found that she had no idea how to actually open a connection. She closed her eyes, prayed that the autopilot on the Falcon was good enough to get her to land safely, and _focused._

 

* * *

 

Kylo felt a strange sensation in the Force, like he was being watched. He turned around from where he was seated in the pilot’s seat to see Rey staring at him. He scrambled out of his chair, never breaking eye contact with her.

“Sir?” asked Sargas.

“Keep following that ship,” Kylo said. “You don’t need to keep sounding the cannons. I’ve got what I wanted.” He walked out of the cockpit far enough that Sargas wouldn’t be able to hear him.

“What are you doing?” Rey hissed at him.

“What do you mean, what am I doing? What are you doing? Why are you going to Ilum? Didn’t you like that lightsaber I gave you?”

“I--that’s none of your business,” she said quickly. “Why are you following me?”

“I just wanted to let you know what you were still my nemesis,” said Kylo. _Were the cannons too much?_ he wondered. Something in Rey’s eyes softened. He had been right, then, in worrying about Rey thinking that she wasn’t his nemesis anymore. “You will always be my nemesis,” he added. The words triggered some strange feelings in Kylo, but he had no idea how to identify anything that wasn’t rage or soul-sucking depression.

“I’m glad that we’re still nemeses,” Rey said slowly, “but _please_ stop shooting at me and let me do this thing on my own.”

“I came all this way to see you,” Kylo said before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth. “I’m not going to back down now.” With that, he broke the connection. Rey had time to say “What--” before she disappeared from his view.

Kylo returned to the cockpit. “Don’t keep shooting at that ship,” he said, “but follow it. Get really close to it. Where it goes, we’re going.” _“Obsessed”? Who says I’m obsessed?_ he thought as he watched Sargas punch in the command, following the Falcon down as it landed on Ilum.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it for chapters based on the comic, but I've still got a little more planned for this. As always, thank you for reading!


	7. What's a metaphor?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose, Poe, and Finn discuss poetry. Meanwhile, on Ilum...

“Do you think Rey’s okay?” Rose asked the day after Rey left. 

“I’m sure she’s fine,” said Finn. “She’s smart, even if lately she has been a little…”

“Unhinged?” said Poe.

“I was going to say ‘stressed,’ but yes, that.”

“There’s just something about this whole nemesis thing that I can’t quite put my finger on,” Rose said. “Do you think it’s a metaphor for something?”

“What’s a metaphor?” asked Finn.

“Come on,” said Poe. “You spend all that time telling me how romantic poetry is, and you don’t know what a metaphor is?”

“Literature classes weren’t on the stormtrooper school curriculum,” Finn said sadly.

Rose turned to look at Finn. Sometimes she forgot about how being a stormtrooper hadn’t just been his job, it had literally been his entire life. Sure, nobody growing up in a war could get a normal education, but his had been something else. She moved a little closer and laid her head on his chest, enjoying the way he wrapped his arm around her back in response.

“‘Don’t leave me, even for an hour, because then the little drops of anguish will all run together, the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift into me, choking my lost heart,’” quoted Poe.

Rose wanted to roll her eyes, but their whole poetry thing was really growing on her. “That’s beautiful,” she murmured. She wondered how the rest of the poem went.

“ _That_ is a metaphor,” said Poe as he leaned in closer to rest his head on Finn’s shoulder. He draped his arm over Finn’s stomach and took Rose’s hand in his. “It means I get lonely when you guys aren’t around.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve either of you in my life,” Finn said quietly.

“You became a hero,” said Rose as she reached over to kiss him.

“Why are we discussing metaphors, again?” asked Finn.

Before Poe could spout off more love poetry, Rose said, “This whole nemesis thing that Rey has with Kylo Ren. It feels like it means something else, but what else could it mean?”

Poe groaned. “As much as I’m worried about Rey’s mental state,” he said, “can we _please_ refrain from discussing Kylo Ren while we pillow talk?”

  


_Meanwhile, on Ilum…_

Rey didn’t know which was worse, the idea of Kylo Ren chasing her down to Ilum only to disappear again and leave her in peace, or the idea of Kylo Ren chasing her down to Ilum and then proceeding to stalk her around the planet as she searched for a new kyber crystal.

Sadly, she would never have the opportunity to find out, because apparently Kylo was choosing option ‘stalk Rey down to Ilum’s surface and shoot some laser cannons at her just for extra oomph.’

She cursed. Why was he still bothering? She knew he didn’t actually want to hurt her. Well, not like this. If he was going to hurt her, it was going to be in one of those epic lightsaber duels they both loved having with each other. Still, she got the point. They were still nemeses. Now that they’d gotten that sorted out, he was free to kriff off.

On Kylo’s ship, he was yelling at his pilot to get closer to the Falcon as they hurtled towards the surface of Ilum. “Can’t you fly any closer to that ship?” he said.

“I’m sorry, Supreme Leader,” Sargas said nervously. “I’m doing the best I can.” She was so panicked that he could practically hear all of her thoughts. _Why does he want to get close to that ship but not actually harm it? What are we even doing out here, anyway?_

“We need to get as close as possible,” Kylo reiterated, “which means following it down to the surface, if needed.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He really needed to prove Hux wrong about how “unhinged” Hux thought he was, and killing his pilot would probably have the opposite effect.

_Is this about that girl everyone says he’s obsessed with?_ he heard Sargas think. _Oh my stars, it totally is. General Hux was totally right when he said--_

Kylo didn’t give her a chance to finish that thought before he Force choked her. “Hux is _not_ right about me,” he hissed, “unless he’s talking about how fucking _awesome_ I am.” He was so busy trying to think of another line that he didn’t notice as his ship collided with the ground, sending it skidding to where the Millenium Falcon had just parked.

On the Falcon, alarms started sounding as a loud _bang!_ sounded, knocking Rey and everything else on the ship around. “What has that idiot done now?” she seethed, knowing that there was only one thing that could have caused something on the Falcon to break. She ran to the engine room to assess the damage. Lucky, nothing too critical was broken, but she definitely wasn’t going to be leaving Ilum before she made some repairs. _Shit._

“I am going to _kill_ him,” she hissed as she wrapped herself up in as many layers as possible. “Supreme Leader, my ass. More like Supreme Dumbass Stalker.”

On board his ship, Kylo moaned as he sat back and rubbed his head. Out of all the outcomes of this joyride, crashing his ship into the planet’s surface and sliding into the Millenium Falcon was definitely _not_ what he had intended. He looked over to Sargas, and realized that the reason why he couldn’t hear her thoughts anymore was because she had died in the crash. _Well, shit. There goes another good pilot._

No time to worry about her, though. Kylo had to get ready for battle. Okay yes, he probably _should_ take a few minutes to assess the damage of his ship, but Rey was his top priority. Everything else could wait until after they fought. Who cared about getting off of Ilum? Kylo certainly didn’t. He wrapped up in his best “keep warm on an ice-cold planet but also give me enough room to fight” jacket and cape and pushed his way out of the wreckage to go meet his nemesis.

Rey cursed as she walked down the ramp out onto Ilum’s surface. Why did it have to be so _cold_? Rey wasn’t made for this. She was from kriffing _Jakku_. She walked around the Falcon to where Kylo’s ship had slammed up against it. His ship was a total wreck, but he wasn’t dead...was he? Before she realized what she was doing, Rey reached out with the Force to check for signs of life. She didn’t know what she would do if Kylo died. Sure, it would probably make things a little easier for the Resistance with him out of the way, but what would she do without her nemesis to constantly provoke her into battle over stupid things?

But no, he was still there. Not even hurt; somehow he had managed to survive the crash, relatively unharmed. His pilot, on the other hand, had not. Rey sighed, torn between two options. One one hand, she _really_ wanted to go kick Kylo Ren’s ass for being stupid enough to crash-land on Ilum. On the other hand, she didn’t want to get so wrapped up in a duel that she forgot why she had come to Ilum in the first place.

_No_. Rey was once again going to keep a lid on her impulses concerning Kylo Ren. History had shown how well _those_ had turned out. She made sure that the Falcon was locked, and turned to head in the direction of the cave that, according to her research, led to the mine of kyber crystals.

It took Kylo longer than he would have liked to bundle up against the cold (he wasn’t going to take chances; growing up, he’d heard a lot of ugly tales about Hoth), but as soon as he was ready to go, he Force-punched his way out of the wreckage of his ship. After he pulled himself free and walked a few meters away from his ship, he turned to look back at it. Wow _._ How the hell had he managed to survive _that?_ Clearly, the Force had protected him because it had some sort of endgame where Kylo and Rey were concerned. What that endgame was, he had no idea.

But no matter. He couldn’t see Rey, but he could sense that she wasn’t on the Falcon. She must have gone off in search of kyber crystals, then. There wasn’t much snow on the ground because everything was ice, but he could see a faint set of footprints leading off in the direction of a cave. Kylo smiled. Perfect. _She won’t be able to escape me now._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three guesses as to which trope is coming next.
> 
> Poem: "[Don’t go far off](http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/pablo_neruda/poems/15713)" by Pablo Neruda. ([original in Spanish](http://www.poesi.as/pn59045.htm)). I'm kind of obsessed with Pablo Neruda's poetry, and this is now the second time I haven't been able to refrain from referencing it in a SW fic. Whoops.


	8. It's raining sleeping bags

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blatant trope is blatant, and someone gets laid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay with this chapter; I've been trying to keep the chapters of this short so that I can update consistently, but this chapter is about 3x the size of the previous ones, and it contains some smut. (Related: if smut isn't your thing, you can read the tl;dr in the end notes for a summary.)
> 
> Also, I am definitely taking some liberties with the Force, but isn't that what crackfic is for?
> 
> Dedicated to you, if you’ve ever gone out bundled up against the cold and done something to sweat and then had to sit around and cool down in sweaty clothes in cold weather. You are well aware of the struggle here.

Kylo was starting to think that maybe starting a fight in a cave on an ice planet was a bad idea.

Sure, there was the thing where it was hard to look badass and imposing when one was bundled up in cold weather gear, but it was also about the fact that they were pretty deep in the cave now, and things were starting to feel strange with the Force. Kylo realized that they were probably getting close(ish) to some kyber crystals, but he didn’t know if Rey knew that. But also it was possible that they had gotten so deep into the cave now that it was going to take them a long time to crawl out, even if they stopped fighting at that very instant. 

“I get it,” Rey growled as the avoided a swipe of Kylo’s lightsaber. “We’re nemeses. You’ve made your point. Now please kriff off and leave me to do this thing in peace.”

“Never,” Kylo growled back. “I will never be done making my point about our relationship, _nemesis._ ” He added extra emphasis to the last word to make sure she knew it was about being nemeses and _not_ about something else. Because it definitely was about being nemeses, and not about some other strange feelings he had. _Definitely._

To say that Rey was pissed off would be an understatement. Sure, there was a strange (and exciting) rush that she got whenever she fought Kylo Ren, but this was not what she wanted when she planned her trip to Ilum. Also, fighting him was kind of defeating the point of being put on administrative leave over how she (over)reacted to anything having to do with him.

There was something strange about this cave, Rey realized suddenly. Something about it was telling her that now was not the time or the place to be having a fight. Besides, she was sweating under all her layers of clothing, and she didn’t want to take the time to start to de-layer when Kylo kept coming at her with his lightsaber. 

“For fuck’s sake, Kylo,” she said. “This has nothing to do with me and you. This is something that I need to do by myself. Alone.”

“Everything has to do with you and me,” he said. He seemed surprised by his own words, and he faltered. This gave her the opening she needed, and she cornered him up against the wall, her lightsaber at his neck. 

“Back. The kriff. Down,” she hissed. “I don’t think we’re supposed to be fighting in here.” 

He blinked, but he turned off his saber and dropped it. “You can--you can stop now,” he said timidly. “I won’t fight you again. Not in here. I promise.”

Rey gave him an ‘I probably shouldn’t trust you’ look, but she stepped back and switched her saber off. “Survival is more important than nemesis stuff right now,” she said.

“Nothing is more important than nemesis stuff,” Kylo muttered as he bent down to pick his lightsaber up. He clipped it to his belt and straightened to look at her. Now that they’d stopped moving, they were both realizing how sweaty they were. And sweat plus being stuck in a cave on an ice planet equaled dangerous, Kylo knew. Again: he’d heard a lot of tales about Hoth when he was growing up. They were mostly bad.

“We’ve come too far to turn back now,” he added when she didn’t respond. 

Rey sighed. “You’re ruining my vacation,” she said.

“I didn’t think Ilum was an ideal vacation spot for someone from Jakku.”

“It’s not. I’m--well, you know why I’m here, don’t you?”

“What’s wrong with the lightsaber I gave you?” he asked, indicating the one she still held in her hand.

“It’s not--I don’t think you’d understand,” she said, turning away to continue further into the cave. Not having anything better to do, he followed behind her.

“Try me,” he said. “I understand you better than you think. That’s why you’re my nemesis. Because we get each other.” That _was_ the reason, wasn’t it?

She didn’t respond as she walked deeper into the cave. Kylo followed her silently, trying to figure out what to do next. They couldn’t go back, he knew. Not yet. She wasn’t going to return without what she came here for, and he wasn’t going to leave her alone. First of all, he was worried about her. She didn’t have any experience on ice rocks the galaxy had the nerve to call planets. Not that he had a lot, but he at least had stories from his parents. Which he _knew_ for a fact was more than what she had from hers. Second of all, he couldn’t stay away from her. There was just something about having a nemesis that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It was _probably_ just a Force thing, but there was a _tiny_ chance that it was something else. Something more. 

“I’m fine,” she said as she realized that his silence meant that he was worried about her. That realization made her uncomfortable. It was _wrong_ of her nemesis to worry about her like that. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Of course I do,” he said. “What would I do without you around to antagonize?”

“I’m sure you’d think of something,” she said. “What about that red-haired general of yours? I saw your fight on the HoloNet.”

He cringed. “You did?” he said. “I...didn’t want you to see that.”

“Why not?” What did he care what fights she did or didn’t see? 

He shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I just didn’t.” There was something more to the nemesis thing, he was starting to realize with growing alarm. He didn’t know what. But there was definitely something else at play here.

Rey was equally alarmed. This wasn’t just about being nemeses anymore, she realized. She didn’t know what it was about. She found she didn’t _want_ to know what it was really about. She was happy to keep being uncomplicated nemeses, and spending time together deep in a Force-heavy cave on an ice planet was the fast-track to complicating things. 

They continued on in silence. Rey was reaching out with the Force to see if she could detect where she needed to go. The Jedi texts had been a little vague about this part of the process. Go to Ilum, she could understand. Look for a kyber crystal, she could also understand. But she couldn’t see any kyber crystals. She had assumed that they would be everywhere and it would only take an hour or so to find the perfect one, and then she’d be able to get off this rock and back to civilization.

“Unc-- _someone_ told me that there used to be caves covered in kyber crystals on Ilum,” Kylo said after a while. “But the Empire destroyed it when they were building the Death Star.” 

“Great,” said Rey flatly. Just one more thing to thank the Dark Side for.

“There still are crystals remaining,” Kylo added. “They just might be difficult to find.”

Clearly, the ancient Jedi texts never expected the Empire to happen. The way they’d talked about Ilum, it sounded like the planet had an endless supply of the crystals, and it was a rite of passage for Jedi-in-training to make a trip to Ilum to get one. It was supposed to be an easy trip, so of _course_ Kylo kriffing Ren had stormed in to screw it up for her.

“Rey,” he said suddenly, grabbing her elbow to stop her. “You need my help.”

“I don’t need anything from you,” she said as she pulled her arm away, “except a good fight. Not now, obviously. Maybe next week. When we’re _not_ stuck on Ilum.”

Kylo watched as she continued walking. Why had he said that? The only thing he wanted to give her was a good duel. He shook his head. He was just tired. What time was it, anyway? He’d been awake for a long time. And between the crash and the fight, he was starting to get exhausted.

And cold. At some point, he had started shivering as the sweat had cooled. He noticed that Rey was walking with her arms wrapped around herself, and she was shivering so hard that he could hear her teeth chatter.

“We need to rest,” he said. “Don’t deny how cold and tired you are. I can feel it through the Force.”

She stopped walking. He was right, she _was_ cold and tired. He was too, she knew. Force knew how many hours she’d been awake, and the adrenaline rush from their fight (which _had_ gone on for a long time; they both had great stamina) was finally wearing off. She hadn’t been prepared for a trip like this, and she only carried the clothes on her back, her lightsaber, the lamp they were using for a bit of light in the cave, and a few protein bars in her pocket. She realized that the protein bars were most likely frozen solid by now, just as her stomach grumbled. Great. Perfect timing.

“I can’t stop,” she said. “Not until I find a crystal. I’m not prepared to spend a night out here.”

Kylo scowled. Of _course_ she would be this stubborn about her survival. “Rey,” he said. “We’re probably not going to stumble upon any kyber crystals anytime soon. These caves are vast and over-mined. You can’t keep going. You’ll die of shock.”

“What do _you_ care if I die?” she spat. “I’m your nemesis, remember?”

“Of course I care if you die!” he shouted. “That’s what a nemesis _does_!”

Rey’s breath caught in her throat. Okay, this nemesis thing was _definitely_ about something other than fighting. But what else could it be about? Something nagged at her, but she didn’t want to hear it. _Keep it uncomplicated,_ she reminded herself as she shut that thought down.

“Fine,” she finally said through chattering teeth. “What’s your grand plan? There’s no way you secretly have a warm fire hidden under that cape.” Not that she would know.

He sighed and sat down on the ground. Kriff, it was just as cold as he’d remembered when he’d come to Ilum years ago to build his first lightsaber. Only that time, he hadn’t crash-landed his ship and wasted time and energy fighting his nemesis, so he had been in a better state.

 “I’m not sure,” he admitted as she sank down to a crouch, wrapping her arms around her knees. 

“We need to stay warm,” she said as she shivered so hard, she started to worry about biting off her tongue.

Something occurred to him. It was probably a weird thing to suggest to a nemesis, but desperate times called for desperate measures. They could put up with it if it meant survival, though. He was sure of that. “I was once told that the best way to regenerate body heat was to crawl naked into a sleeping bag with someone who is already naked.”

Rey raised an eyebrow. Surely he wasn’t suggesting… “Maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you’ll get lucky.” 

She’d meant it as a joke, but apparently the Force worked in _very_ mysterious ways, because something soft and heavy appeared out of nowhere and hit Rey in the head, knocking her off balance. “What the fuck?” she asked as she shakily pushed herself back up to look at whatever had hit her.

Kylo was staring at it in confusion. “Is that…?” Rey asked when she realized what it was.

“A sleeping bag,” he said. Even with the low light of the lamp, Rey could tell he was blushing. Not that she was judging; she knew her face had to be just as red.

“I was joking,” she said quickly. “We’re nemeses. We can’t--”

“Rey,” he said, lifting his eyes to meet hers. “I am fucking freezing. _You_ are fucking freezing. I realize that this is an awkward situation, given our nemesis status, but I am not going to turn my nose up at this gift from the Force, which clearly doesn’t want us to die out here.”

Rey sighed. He was right. She knew all about doing desperate things to survive. There were things she’d done on Jakku that she refused to think about, things she’d had to do to stay alive. She told herself that this was just one more of those things, although she had hoped that she would be able to leave all of that behind on Jakku once she’d left.

She didn’t say anything as she started to unwrap all of the layers of clothing that she was wearing. She probably should have thought to ask someone what to wear to an ice-cold planet before she left, she realized. She could hear Kylo doing the same, but she refused to look at him. Besides, as she removed more layers, she became more desperate to get the rest off and crawl into the Force-given sleeping bag.

_What the fuck, Force?_ she found herself thinking as she tore the last of her clothing off and dived for the sleeping bag. Kylo followed a minute later, and they both squirmed around until they were facing away from each other, trying to stay as far away from each other as possible while in the confines of a sleeping bag. Granted, it was bigger than the average sleeping bag. It was definitely made for two. But it was still _one_ sleeping bag holding _two_ naked nemeses.

“We are never, ever, _ever_ speaking of this again,” Rey said as she shivered.

“Your feet are freezing.”

Just to piss him off, she dug her feet into his legs, which were conveniently very warm and perfect for warming up her feet.

“Not what I meant,” he said, although he found that he didn’t mind too much. Having Rey’s legs tangled in his actually felt...nice. Which was weird. Right?

They were both still shivering. “I don’t think this is working,” said Rey, although she made no movement to untangle from him. 

“I think your feet are warming up,” he said. “They feel less like icicles.”

“Your legs are warm,” she said. Was that a hint that he wanted her to move her feet? If it was, she was ignoring it. She needed every bit of warmth she could get from him, and if it pissed him off, well, that was just a bonus.

This was stupid. Was her pride really worth more than her physical well-being? She knew something that would _definitely_ warm them both up. And Force knew it had been a while for her. Everyone in the Resistance was too awed by her, so she hadn’t gotten laid since she left Jakku. But did she _really_ want to--

Her train of thought was cut off as Kylo turned over and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She wanted to push him away on sheer principle, but she found that she couldn’t as her body realized what an improvement this was, heat-wise. “We are never speaking of this again, remember?” he whispered in her ear. Rey shivered again, for a completely different reason this time.

Kylo had no idea what he was doing. He was acting on pure instinct, ‘instinct’ definitely being ‘pure desire to not die of hypothermia’ and _not_ ‘pure desire to get naked with Rey and see what happens.’ Plus, he’d never been naked with a woman before. He’d always been too busy doing stuff for Snoke, and then it just became awkward when he became the Supreme Leader. Everyone was too afraid to say ‘no’ to the Supreme Leader, and he didn’t want to touch anyone who wanted to say ‘no’ but was too afraid to say it.

Rey wasn’t afraid to say no to him, though. And even if she was, he would be able to sense it if that was what she meant. So he knew that even though she was feeling just as embarrassed and awkward about this situation as he was, she was okay with the way he was holding her.

More than okay, actually. She had pushed herself closer to him, and was that a sigh that just escaped her lips? He shifted again so that his arm was covering hers. “Your hands are freezing,” he whispered as his fingers brushed hers. 

_His_ hands certainly weren’t freezing. And she could feel how warm his chest was when it was pressed up against her back like this. Rey made a decision. _We are never speaking of this again,_ she told herself. She’d be lying if she said the thought hadn’t crossed her mind at one point or another. There were only so many times you could see your nemesis’s 8-pack through a Force bond session before you started wondering what it would feel like to run your hands over it. Before she could think too much about it, she rolled over and pressed her hands to his chest.

He hissed as he felt her ice-cold hands, but he found he couldn’t complain. This position was an improvement. He liked the way they were curled against each other, and the sensation of her breath on his neck was doing funny things to his stomach. Good funny things. Which was actually kind of bad, given their compromised position. He didn’t want her to think he was going to take advantage of her, and anyway, they were quickly venturing out of typical nemesis territory. Sure, it was _probably_ normal to fantasize about one’s nemesis every once in a while, especially when one knew the effect their naked chest had on said nemesis. But fantasy and reality were two very, very different things.

Rey couldn’t keep a smile off her face as she inhaled. Kylo smelled surprisingly good. That was something she hadn’t expected. And it made her really want to lick his neck to see if he tasted as good as he smelled, which was a super weird thought to have about her nemesis. “Still cold?” she asked as a way to distract herself from the things this was doing to her body. _We’re here so that we don’t die of hypothermia_ , she reminded herself. _That’s all_.

“A little,” Kylo said as he shifted around awkwardly. This was definitely not good. She kept trying to move closer to him, presumably because she was cold, but he definitely didn’t need her to know about his, uh, _growing problem_. He didn’t want her to think that he thought that they were anything other than nemeses, because that’s all they were to each other, and all they would ever be. Nemeses who were snuggling naked in a sleeping bag.

Which was totally normal. Definitely.

Why was he trying to move away from her if he was still cold? Not that there was really anywhere to go, but he kept shifting around awkwardly and it was making Rey feel uncomfortable. Maybe it was _because_ he was still cold? If that was the case, then she had an idea. And really, _he_ was the one who had suggested getting into a sleeping bag naked in the first place. It was only fair that she offer her own idea.

“I know something that will warm us up,” she whispered as she started to run her hands slowly down his chest. “I’m in if you’re in.”

Kylo inhaled sharply. Surely she wasn’t suggesting--? But her hands were running over his chest and stomach, which felt so _good_. She _had_ to know how this was affecting him, despite his best efforts to hide his growing erection. When he didn’t respond, she licked his neck, and he let out a gasp. Who knew that necks were so sensitive? “What happens on Ilum, stays on Ilum,” he whispered.

He tasted exactly as good as he smelled. Which, again, was probably weird, but Rey wasn’t complaining and neither was he. She was already considerably warmer, her nerves fizzing as her heart started pounding. He trailed the hand that was wrapped around her waist lower. He seemed a bit hesitant. Rey couldn’t tell if it was because he was nervous about their whole nemesis thing, or if it was because he’d never done this before. Given the general way he interacted with her, he’d always seemed like he didn’t know how to talk to women. It stood to reason that he didn’t know how to touch one, either.

Kylo had no idea what to do with his hands. Hell, even his fantasies weren’t all that elaborate. He had rarely indulged himself when he was Snoke’s apprentice (it was difficult to think about something sexy when his master was always in his head), and he’d been too busy since killing Snoke to spend much time getting himself off. And anyway, all of the women he had fantasized about looked suspiciously like Rey, which was rather distracting. 

Right. Clearly he needed a little guidance. Rey took the hand that was resting on her hip and brought it up to her chest. “I’m still cold here,” she whispered in his ear before nipping his earlobe. He let out a sound that was almost a moan, and Rey felt it echo through her core. He cupped her breast awkwardly for a moment before he seemed to figure it out, and she couldn’t help the moan that escaped her as he ran a thumb over her nipple. “Yeah,” she said. “Like that.” 

Either Rey had forgotten how sensitive her nipples were, or Kylo’s fingers were just really good at what they were doing, because she’d never felt this turned on from simple nipple play before. She dragged her hand up around his waist and dug her fingernails in for emphasis.

“Better?” Kylo whispered.

“Keep going,” Rey breathed. “Still a little cold there.”

Force, this was even better than he’d imagined. Not that he’d imagined this _particular_ scenario, per se, but the way she was gasping and digging her nails into his back was very rapidly warming him up. He wondered if it was possible to get a woman off just from this alone. Not that he’d probably ever have the opportunity to learn, given his occupation and general reputation, but it was something to think about.

Was it weirder that they were or weren’t kissing? Wasn’t kissing something you did _before_ you started touching each other? He’d been so distracted by the way she was licking and sucking on his neck, that he hadn’t thought about it. But he found that he really wanted to kiss her, so that he could know how her lips tasted. She was clearly too busy enjoying what he was doing to her breasts to make any movement to do anything else. To be fair, he was enjoying this as much as she was--he didn’t think he’d ever been so hard in his entire life--but for some reason he needed to know what it was like to kiss her before anything else happened.

Rey was pissed off that he’d moved his for about half a second before she realized that he had moved it to cup her cheek so that he could pull her in for a kiss. And fair enough, her lips _were_ cold, and the whole point of this was to warm up, of course. The fact that they were both enjoying it so much was just an added bonus, the implications of which she was definitely _not_ going to think about.

She assumed that he had about as much experience with kissing as he did with everything else they were doing, but she was surprised by how good he was at it. She reached her hand up to cup his cheek, and the way their bodies shifted made her very suddenly aware of how slick her thighs were. A part of her brain knew that if the sole purpose of this had _really_ been just to warm up, they could stop because they were both suddenly very hot, but the rest of her brain shut that thought down. There was _no_ way they were going to stop now.

Kissing Rey was as good as he had always thought it would be. _Wait, always?_ He was mildly alarmed to realize he had wondered about that for a while now, but he figured that it was probably another normal nemesis thing to wonder what it was like to kiss one’s nemesis.

And then there was the way that they had shifted position. They were pressed closer together, which was great for the “fighting against hypothermia” thing because they were both so hot, and it was also great for the “trying to get laid” thing. Which had definitely _not_ been the plan when he’d stalked her to Ilum, but it was probably the best possible outcome of the whole situation.

He needed more of her. He moved his hand down to her hip to pull her closer to him, and she shifted to drape her leg over his hip. He couldn’t keep a moan from escaping as his cock rubbed against her thighs. Was it normal for a woman to be this wet? He couldn’t believe she was this wet from what _he_ was doing to her.

“Fuck, Kylo,” she moaned. He loved the way his name sounded on her lips.

“Still cold?” 

“Yes,” she said. They both knew it was a lie. As much as she hated to admit it, this blew all of her previous experiences out of the water. For someone with so little experience, he was amazing in bed (or sleeping bag, as it were). And it was _definitely_ that he was objectively good and _not_ because they had some sort of chemistry or connection or whatever, aside from being nemeses.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She pushed him over and climbed on top of him. “Are you sure about this?” she asked. It was probably going to kill her if he backed down now, but she had to make sure. They weren’t the type of nemeses to forget about consent.

“I’m still cold,” he gasped, his hands gripping her hips hard enough that they were probably going to leave bruises.

It was a little awkward to maneuver with the confines of the sleeping bag, but they made it work. She hissed as he entered her (they probably should have done something to prepare her for that; of _course_ he was bigger than expected) and they paused for a moment.

“Are you okay?” he whispered. It was sweet of him to ask ( _wait, sweet?_ ), but he probably just didn’t know that this was a normal reaction.

“I’m good,” she said. “You’re just, uh.” She paused. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how he measured up to her previous partners. “I’m good.” He looked like he was going to respond, so she kissed him before he could say anything. “I’m good,” she said again as she started to move.

_Fuck._ Kylo couldn’t believe he’d been missing out on this. This was almost better than fighting Rey. But just almost. It wasn’t possible to enjoy doing anything more with a nemesis than fighting. That was the rule.

Force, the _sounds_ she was making. It was completely non-verbal, but somehow he understood exactly what she meant. He liked that she was taking charge. Either she hadn’t noticed, or she wasn’t bothered by his complete lack of experience. Either way, he was very happy to let her show him what she liked. He found he really liked seeing how her instinct for which fighting moves to use with him translated into sex. Which was, again, a totally normal nemesis thing. Right?

For all his stamina on the battlefield, he wasn’t going to last long. Rey wasn’t going to let him finish without getting her off, too. She was _not_ going to do most of the work for zero reward. She pulled one of his hands from where it was gripping her waist and placed it between her legs. He got the message, and fumbled around a bit until she showed him what she wanted him to do. He quickly built up a good rhythm after that, and it wasn’t long until she was moaning his name as she came.

He followed, the sensation of her muscles tightening around him driving him over the edge. Neither of them moved for a minute as they both caught their breath, and then Rey moved off of him to curl up next to him. He pulled her close, curling around her as they spooned, hearts still pounding. “Still cold?” he asked.

“Not anymore,” she said.

  
  


They woke up at some point that Rey assumed was morning, and struggled to drag themselves out of the warmth of the Force-given sleeping bag ( _seriously, what the_ fuck _, Force?_ Rey thought for the thousandth time) and dress in their freezing-but-mostly-dry clothing. They were silent the entire time. What was there to say? The only thing Rey could think of was to reiterate that what happened on Ilum stayed on Ilum, but there were only so many times she could say that before the words lost their meaning.

Kylo was equally lost for words. He didn’t know what to make of the whole thing. Well, obviously, the sex part of it was awesome. He wondered if everyone enjoyed having sex with their nemesis. Even if they did, he figured, there was _no way_ that it was as good as what he and Rey had done. He couldn’t believe that he’d been missing out on _that._

_But_ , he reminded himself, _it never happened, and it’s never going to happen again. Definitely not._  

“Let’s go find the damn kyber crystals,” Rey said quietly as they finished dressing. Kylo nodded silently, and followed her deeper into the cave. 

In the end, it only took another two hours of walking to find a vein of crystals, and after that it seemed like it took no time for Rey to choose one and turn to head back in the direction they came from, neither one of them saying a word the entire time. 

It wasn’t until they were almost at the mouth of the cave that they spoke again. “How are you planning on getting off of this rock?” Rey asked.

“Um,” said Kylo. He hadn’t planned on crash-landing. He had no back-up plan and no way to call for help.

Rey sighed. “I suppose you need a ride.”

“I might.”

She rolled her eyes. _Idiot_. “What were you _thinking_ when you came chasing after me?”

“I just wanted to say hi,” he said. “And to make sure that you knew that you were still my nemesis.” Somehow, the word had a slightly different meaning to it now. Neither one of them wanted to discuss what that new meaning was. “I didn’t intend to crash-land on Ilum.”

“How did you know I was going to be here, anyway?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“How do you think?” Kylo asked.

“Are you stalking me?”

“‘Stalking’ is such a strong word.”

“Kylo.”

“I can’t help it if sometimes things slip through the bond, okay?” he asked. “Besides, I have to keep tabs on you. It’s a nemesis thing. Obviously.”

_Obviously. Definitely._ He used those words a lot. Rey was starting to wonder if he realized that they were verbal signals for “I am lying to myself about something and I refuse to admit it.”

“Whatever,” she said, already filing the conversation under ‘what happens on Ilum stays on Ilum.’ “I will take you as far as the first reasonably populated planet where nobody will recognize this ship or either of our faces, and then I am dropping you off and leaving you behind. I’m sure the First Order’s vast network of resources and spies will help you get home. And then we will--”

“Never speak of this again,” he finished. “I _know._ Despite what you may think, Rey, I’m not a complete idiot.”

“You _crash-landed onto Ilum_ because you wanted to say hi by shooting a _laser cannon_ at me, and then somehow, I don’t want to know how, you _lost control of your ship_ and skidded into mine.”

_Well when she puts it like that_ , he thought.

“Besides,” she added. “I need your help to fix the damn ship before we get off this planet.” 

Kylo hated the fact that he was going to enter his father’s ship again, but he figured that helping Rey fix it was the least he could do to help. Besides, he knew a few things about the ship that she might not. And as much as he refused to admit it, he... _liked_ spending time with her. When the kriff had _that_ happened? He wasn’t supposed to like spending time with his nemesis! Not unless it was time spent fighting.

It was just a sex drive thing, he decided. Purely chemical. Oxytocin and whatnot. Once they parted ways, they’d go back to being normal nemeses.

Obviously.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [You can thank The X-Files for the inspiration behind this chapter.](https://youtu.be/BrxQR9Gbfjc?t=51s) 
> 
> tl;dr: They fight, they get too deep into a cave to return, they worry about hypothermia, they make a joke, the Force throws them a sleeping bag, they bang, they both swear to never discuss it again, Rey finally finds a kyber crystal, Kylo needs a ride off of Ilum, the end.
> 
> Please let me know if switching between Rey's and Kylo's POV is confusing. It's something I'm experimenting with.


	9. The test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone _finally_ gets the metaphor, and Rey and Rose finally get the "stereotypical teen girl bonding" time that they've been needing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of your comments and kudos! I'm so glad that you guys are enjoying this weird-ass little fic I've thrown together based on some totally unrelated pop culture references :)

Poe really liked this new living quarters set-up they had on the new base. Officially, he and Finn shared one room in the two-room suite and Rey and Rose shared the other room, but unofficially Rey had her own room and Poe, Finn, and Rose lived together. People knew the four of them were close, but it wasn’t common knowledge that it was because three of them were together, and the fourth was...well, she was Rey. Poe would do her in a heartbeat--who wouldn’t?--but there was something that she always held back and kept her separate from the rest of them. He assumed it was a Force thing. And anyway, he loved her, but he definitely didn’t love her like he loved Finn and Rose.

It was because of this love for her that he was alarmed when he noticed the positive pregnancy test in the trash after she walked out of the washroom the four of them shared.

Poe had gone in for a shower after Rey, and it wasn’t like he was intentionally poking around the trash (gross), but it was the only thing sitting in the little bin, and it was pretty obvious what it was. His eyes bugged out in surprise, and he immediately sprinted out of the washroom to grab Finn to show him.

“Poe, we’ve been over this. The showers here aren’t big enough to accommodate two people,” said Finn and Poe dragged him into the tiny washroom.

“That’s not what this is about,” he hissed as he shut the door. “Look.” He pointed at the test.

“Why are you poking around the trashcan in the washroom?” Finn asked, giving Poe a side-eye.

“I wasn’t,” said Poe. “I’m not. But it’s just sitting there so openly.”

“What is it?”

It hadn’t occurred to Poe that Finn had probably never seen a pregnancy test before. “It’s a pregnancy test,” he said. “A positive one. And Rey was the last one in here.”

Finn’s eyes widened, mirroring Poe’s alarmed expression. “But how--when-- _who_ \--”

“Think about it,” Poe said. “We got that intel that Kylo Ren had been spotted wandering around a planet that’s not under First Order control that is conveniently close to Ilum a couple of days after Rey was there last month.”

“You think that…?” Finn couldn’t bring himself to even say it.

“It makes sense,” said Poe. “I’ve heard that Ilum is a sacred place for people who are strong with the Force. Maybe there was some sort of weird Force magic at play there. If he followed her there…”

“But why?” said Finn. “Rey would never…” They were both silent for a moment, trying to figure out what happened on Ilum. “No, she’s definitely smarter than that,” said Finn. “She _hates_ Kylo Ren.”

“It’s a really personal kind of hatred, though,” said Poe. “The kind that comes with sexual tension." He gasped as something dawned on him.  _I think I get the metaphor now._  "And she _was_ more relaxed when she got back from that trip.”

“That’s because we forced her to take a vacation, and she used it to go do some Jedi thing. Besides, even if she _did_ get laid, how do we know it wasn’t some one-night stand with some rando somewhere?”

“Please,” said Poe. “If she wouldn’t hook up with anyone in the Resistance, who else would she hook up with? She hates interacting with people. All that time spent alone on Jakku must have given her some serious social anxiety.”

“Fair point,” said Finn. “But I can’t believe that she and Kylo Ren would...you know.”

“Maybe we don’t know her as well as we thought,” said Poe sadly.

“So what do we do about it?” Finn said.

“We have to confront her about it, obviously.”

“Should we tell Rose?”

It was a good question. Poe didn’t want to keep anything from her, but they had no time to waste, and he didn’t know where Rose was. Besides, they were probably together. They had become thick as thieves lately. He might have been jealous if it weren’t for the fact that Rey operated on a whole different plane from everyone else.

“No,” he said. “We need to act quickly. We need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. If Rey’s been compromised by Kylo Ren, we need to know.”

“Rey would _never_ betray us,” Finn said vehemently.

“I don’t think she would, either,” said Poe, “but if she’s pregnant with Kylo Ren’s baby, she’s a liability. Not because of anything _she’s_ done or would ever do, but because _he’s_ super creepy and obsessed with her and he can probably stalk her through the Force now.”

“It hadn’t occurred to me to worry about her safety like that,” Finn murmured. “You’re right. There’s no time to waste.”

 

* * *

 

“Truth or dare,” Rose said as she dipped her spoon into the pint of ice cream. 

“Truth,” said Rey.

“What’s the best sex you’ve ever had?”

Rey coughed and dropped her spoon, spilling ice cream on the floor of her (well, officially their) room. _What happens on Ilum stays on Ilum,_ she reminded herself for the millionth time.

“That good, huh?” said Rose, grinning at her.

“Someone I met on Jakku,” Rey said quickly, picking up the spoon and wiping it off. Good thing the floors were pretty clean here. She’d definitely eaten off of worse, and this whole ice cream thing was pretty great. When they’d spotted it at the market in the local town, Rose had looked at it with a strange expression and told Rey that it was a miracle that they had ice cream and then proceeded to buy three pints of it.

“Man, woman, or other?”

“Woman,” Rey said. Which was the truth if she didn’t think about Ilum. Because nothing had happened there. “Your turn. Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What’s it like having two boyfriends?”

Rose’s features melted into a dreamy smile. “I didn’t think it was possible to be this happy,” she said. “Like, I couldn’t believe that I was actually talking to _real_ Resistance heroes when I first met them, and then next thing I knew, I was rushing out to save Finn’s life and professing my love for him, even though I knew there was no way I could get between him and you or him and Poe.”

“You never had to worry about me,” said Rey as she took another scoop of ice cream. “I love Finn, and I love Poe, but not like…”

“Not like I love them,” said Rose.

“Exactly,” said Rey.

“Have you ever been in love?”

Rey paused. Had she? She didn’t _think_ she had, but something was tugging at her, telling her to search her feelings about a certain nemesis. “No,” she said.

“You don’t sound too convinced,” teased Rose. “That woman must have been something, huh?”

“Yeah, you know how it is, with endorphins and stuff,” said Rey, grateful for the save. “It’s hard to know when you’re a teenager.”

“This is true.” Rose dipped her spoon into the pint to scrape the last of the ice cream out of it, but she nearly dropped it as the door opened and Poe and Finn burst into the room, carrying the trash bin from the washroom.

“Rey,” said Poe. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with us.”

Rey and Rose exchanged confused glances. “What secret?” she asked. They couldn’t _possibly_ know about Ilum, could they? She had been very careful to erase all traces of Kylo’s presence aboard the Falcon as she’d taken him to the closest reasonably populated city to dump him in after they left Ilum. And she had taken about five showers afterwards, needing to make sure she scrubbed him off of her skin. She had been careful to avoid any missions where he might possibly show his face so as to avoid having to see him again because she was afraid that their dynamic had changed too much for her to handle. 

“This,” said Poe, brandishing the trash bin.

“Poe, that’s a trash bin,” said Rey.

“No, it’s what’s _in_ the trash bin.”

Rey peered into it. “What’s that?” she asked. Whatever it was, she had never seen it before.

“You don’t need to play dumb with us,” said Finn. “We’re your friends. We have your back no matter what.”

“No, I legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Rey, starting to get annoyed. Was this some stupid prank? It wasn’t really their style, but she had no idea what else it could be.

“We know you’re pregnant,” said Poe in a loud whisper. “I don’t want to know the details, but--”

“Oh, for Force’s sake,” said Rose, dropping her spoon. “Rey’s not pregnant, dummies. _I_ am. You’re going to be dads.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so: I am marking this as complete because I am happy to end it here, and I've got some new projects (outside of fandom stuff) starting soon, so I need to take a step back from fandom stuff and I hate to leave something unfinished. That being said, it's _possible_ that I _may_ go back and add more to this later on because it's been so much fun to write.
> 
> If you have stuck with it, you are wonderful, and thank you so much for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I'm always open to suggestions or requests :)


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